Directors of Chester based William Lea Ltd started receiving calls from suppliers last October after the CCJ appeared against its name on industry credit checking services.

William Lea discovered the CCJ had been issued incorrectly against it by the Copyright Licensing Agency.

The agency had made a mistake in completing the form which should have applied the CCJ to a printing firm with a similar name.

But William Lea is still battling to have the incorrect information removed from its credit record three months later despite the agency starting the long-winded legal process to get it taken-off.

Owner Colin Jones said: “We have done nothing wrong but our credit rating has been decimated.

“We continue to be publicly embarrassed and it has seriously affected our workload and cash flow.

“Three months down the line and the CCJ is still sitting there and it is not even ours.”

Emails shared with the Enquirer highlight William Lea’s frustrating fight to get the error corrected and the impact it is having on the business.

Its bankers and credit card suppliers have slashed credit limits and are refusing to reinstate the original levels until the CCJ is removed from its credit files.

The agency has provided William Lea with a letter to show other firms admitting the CCJ was issued in error and an application has been made to have it removed.

Jones said: “We are now caught in this ongoing nightmare of wading through the court system to get this revoked. It seems a lot quicker to apply a CCJ to a firm than have it removed.

“We are totally innocent yet our good name and reputation built up over many years can be hit like this by an admin mistake which takes months to be corrected and we have to do most of the legwork to put things right.

“All the while our business suffers in terms of day-to-day running and winning new work.”